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BCS commissioners nail down new college football playoff format

A new playoff format starting in 2014 will now decide who walks away with the crystal ball. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

BCS Commissioners on Monday approved a format that would give an automatic bid to the highest rated "Group of Five" team, and settled on six bowls for the semifinals of the upcoming college football playoff system that will ultimately decide a national champion, reports ESPN.com.

The highest rated champion from The Group of Five (Big East Conference, Conference USA, Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt and the Mid-American Conference) will receive an automatic berth in one of the bowl games.

Five conferences, the Southeastern, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and the Atlantic Coast, would get the biggest revenue share as opposed to the current format which the six automatic qualifying BCS leagues, the five previously mentioned conferences plus the Big East, receive a majority share of the revenue.

"[The presidents] approved this deal and did it with smiles on their faces. It's fair," said Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman.

Perlman also said that 10 percent of the playoff revenue will be reserved for academic performance, meaning if a qualifying school does not reach a certain APR mark, then it will forefit their share.

Now seven of the 12 berths in the access bowls will be secured with the addition of the Group of Five team that earns the automatic bid.

According the report, the Presidental Oversight Committee will authorize the commissioners to finalize a media rights deal with ESPN to television the playoff. Sources say it is worth $475 million a year over 12 years.